A total Iron Export Ban is being heavily debated in India at the minute!
At a Steel Conference, it was noted at current consumption rates that India's iron ore resource would be extinguished in less than 100 years and that a total export ban, similar to the one imposed by the state of Kanatarka would be prudent!
We'll keep a close eye on developments and keep everyone informed! The day that Kanatarka announced their iron ore ban, the price of iron ore rose from $120 per tonne to $150 per tonne! And it has hovered there ever since.
This has to be good for FWL's projects to get approval! Especially the easy dig and ship hematite resource they have recently found! Dont like the Magnetite find and MPI, fine, then you cant go wrong with digging hematite DSO(Direct Shipping Ore) and sending it by rail(which passes right through their tenement) to the Chinese! If the FWL's DSO doesnt get you excited then get into BHP RIO and FMG for a 10-20% annual return on your investment!
Albeit FWL needs to continue to drill to increase their resource from inferred to Indicated and Measured to further validate their resource.
As we all know Inferred means "We Recon we have x amount of resource". Indicated means "We are Quite Sure we have x amount of resource" and Measured means "We are Very Sure we have x amount of resource" as part of the JORC compliant resource. It costs Millions of Dollars to move JORC compliant resource from Inferred to Measured, still over time they can do what Atlas, Territory, Grange et all have done and move to indicated dig sell make money then continue to drill to increase their resource as they make money!
The world Iron ore Market makes these smaller miners/explorers like FWL serious viable companies!
Go FWL!
VISAKHAPATNAM: The Karnataka example of banning the export of iron ore, a prudent move, should be followed by Andhra Pradesh and other states, and the Central Government should also come out with a national iron ore policy with emphasis on conservation of the mineral for posterity, opined former Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Y. Sivasagar Rao.
Export duty meagre'
Delivering the key-note address at the inaugural of a two-day seminar on steel-making organised by the monthly magazine Steel and Metallurgy' here on Friday, he observed that even at the present level of consumption, the iron ore reserves in India might not last even a hundred years.
All countries, including China, were conserving the ore. We should also do it and ban iron ore export. The meagre export duty at present is not sufficient to discourage exports, he felt.
Mr. Rao noted that the steel plants in the country were already under a great strain, as they imported the bulk of coking coal used in the plants at a very high cost. If they had to import iron ore also in the future, steel-making in the country would become altogether unviable, he stated.
He also wanted the steel plants in the country to acquire stakes in the coal blocks abroad, particularly South Africa, to ensure raw material security. Though the private sector made some headway on this, the public sector units were woefully lagging behind, he remarked.
New tech
Mr. Rao felt an urgent need to adopt new technologies to cut down cost of production and efforts made to set up plants for beneficiation of iron ore and coking coal. More pelletisation plants should be set up to make use of iron ore fines and to improve blast furnace productivity. Use of raw ore in the blast furnace should be reduced to the minimum, he said.
The raw material costs are soaring all the time, but the steel plants cannot increase the prices accordingly and pass it on to the consumers. Therefore, there is no alternative to adoption of new technologies in order to cut costs and withstand the pressure on the margins. Capacity additions and cost-cutting are the two main challenges facing the industry today, he opined.
Former Director of RINL K.K. Rao, German Engineering Federation's Rajesh Nath, and others were present. Editor of the magazine Nirmalya Mukherjee welcomed the gathering.
